There are some records in the long history of cricket, spread for about 150 years, which cannot be broken, they can be shared and equalled only. Hence only few players have been able to achieve them. One of these records is bowling out all ten batsmen in an innings. Only two bowlers have achieved this remarkable feat in the cricket history, an Englishman, Jim Laker and an Indian, Anil Kumble.

[caption id="attachment_205" align="alignright" width="230"] On this day, a computer engineer engraved his name among the great bowlers of history (Photo: Getty Images)[/caption]

It was this day in 1999, at FerozShah Kotla Stadium Dehli when Anil Kumble picked up all ten wickets of archrivals Pakistan helping India to win with a big margin of 212 runs and level the two match series .

Pakistan were visiting India after a long time and things were so bad that the first match of series could not be held at the scheduled venue of Dehli, as extremist Hinuds had dug up the pitch of Ferozshah Kotla stadium and the match had to be shifted to Chennai. Pakistan seized a sensational win beating India by 12 runs in Chennai and got an unassailable lead in the series.

It was a difficult call for India to prepare a spinner friendly wicket because Saqlain Mushtaq was in fabulous form and he guided Pakistan’s victory in the first test. But India replied strongly in Dehli where a 28-year-old computer engineer, Kumble levelled the 43-year-old record of magical English spinner Jim Laker.

Facing troubles, when Indian side reached Dehli they found a traditional slow pitch, and both the teams decided to go with two spinners. India decided to bat first after winning the toss, considering the difficulties of batting in fourth innings and succeeded in scoring 252 runs with the help of responsible batting by Azharuddin and Sadagoppan Ramesh. Saqlain Mushtaq bagged five while Mushtaq Ahmed picked up two wickets.

It was an encouraging start for Pakistan but they couldn’t face the bowling pair of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh and were perished at just 172 runs. The poor performance of Pakistan was evident from the scorecard: the best score of the innings was 32 by Shahid Afridi followed by Salim Malik with 31 and the third highest was in the form of extras. India came back into the game after getting a lead of 80 runs in the first innings although they had scored just 252 runs in the first innings.

In the seconds innings Sadagoppan Ramesh, with his superb innings of 96, laid the foundations of Indian victory and a 100-run stand for the eighth wicket between Saurav Ganguly and Javagal Sriath ousted Pakistan form the game. Indian innings concluded with 339 runs on the board leaving Pakistan to chase a Himalayan total of 420 runs, that too against their archrivals in their own backyard.

A 101-run opening stand by Shahid Afridi and Saeed Anwar provided some hope for Pakistan, but a decision by umpire Jay Parakash ended the fine innings of Afridi on 41. Anguished Afridi returned to pavilion with heavy feet, and India found a chink in the armour of Pakistani batting.

Anil Kumble with his high arm action used his quicker delivery effectively and trapped Ejaz Ahmed in front of wickets. Fall of Inzimam ul Haq and Yousuf Yohanna in back-to-back overs proved fatal for Pakistan. Moin Khan was the fifth victim of Kumble followed by Saeed Anwar who got out after scoring 69 runs. After getting the first six wickets, all of the Indian efforts were centred on letting Kumble get all the wickets. Other bowlers played their role by not bowling in line. So the record bowling performance if can be owned by Anil Kumble, it was also supported by Indian captain Azharuddin and his bowlers.

When Pakistani captain Wasim Akram lost his wicket after getting caught by Laxman on a cut, all the Indian team and thousands of spectators in the ground were ecstatic. It was the first occasion since 1956 when a bowler had grabbed all the ten wickets in an innings. Before this occasion only Jim Laker had achieved this record against Australia in Old Trafford.

However, Jim Laker’s exploit was different as he picked up 19 wickets in the match and only one wicket did not fall to him otherwise an unbreakable record would have been made, unless we have a change in law to increase the number of players from 11 in a side. While Kumble had picked 14 wickets in the Dehli Test and seven in the previous match at Chennai which summed his tally of 21 wickets in the two-match series.

After this match a joke was rife in Pakistan that Anil Kumble took only seven wickets while the other three were ousted by Arani Jay Prakash (umpire). It was clear that the Afridi’s dismissal was not correct but to question his other decisions seems like whining. However, it was hard on many followers of the game that Jay Parakash raised his finger at once after appeal. Anyhow Anil Kumble’s performance will endure in the history books till the game is played, in spite of all the talk.

The story of umpire Jay Paraksh is an interesting one. He escaped controversy in Dehli but faced a lot of hullabaloo, when two years later he judged poorly on many occasions during the match between Sri Lanka and England at Galle. These exploits were enough to prove his ability and he couldn’t rise on international scene again and announced his retirement eventually.